Open Letter to the SD Developers and the Community
It is no secret that the SpanishDict community is going through a crisis right now, because of the new user interface for the site. Interestingly, what has not been changed has produced about as much controversy as what has been changed.
A number of furiously angry and, in my opinion, justified comments have been made. Also a few sensible, polite, and conciliatory messages have been offered, in deference to the efforts made by Chris and his team.
In view of the very heated controversy that had been brewing, I decided to take some time to wait and see, and mostly evaluate how the developers responded to comments.
Before I say anything else, let me say that I agree in principle with the statements offered by Pesta and by Eddy.
I understand business, I understand software development, and I understand web applications and Internet services.
I am absolutely certain that Chris and his team are honestly doing everything they think is best in order to offer a good product, and attract users - what would be the point otherwise? One would have to be extremely perverse to go through all the work and effort involved just for the sake of annoying a few people. I also think that all those involved in development and testing deserve to be treated respectfully, and with consideration for the hard work they do. Then again, I believe that we all deserve to be treated with respect and civility.
At this point I think that Chris and his team must be convinced that they have done what's best for the business and their users. Guessing blindly, it seems to me that their stance is to "wait out the storm" and "let it all settle down". "Eventually people will get used to it all, and we can get on with life", right?
Maybe that strategy will pay off. There is enough critical mass within SD that it probably will not cease to function, even if several of its old-time users left in disgust.
However, I am personally not happy, and I do have a number of concerns - because I know this business, and because I know about web development and making customers happy.
As I said in another post, I think that just springing the change on anyone unannounced was a mistake, and a rude disregard for SD's customers' experience. At least let people know when to expect a change, yes?
When I asked some of the Administrators why they didn't issue a warning, I was even more shocked to learn that they had not been told either.
Then there's the feedback issue: I think I won't be presuming too much if I believe that I speak for most users when I say that we were happy when Martha and Chris asked for feedback. It is nice to feel that one's opinion as a user is being taken in consideration.
However I, at least, have been hugely disappointed that almost none of my comments (which seem to have an echo on many other users, judging from the votes received), have been implemented. I received a reply to only one, from Martha, early in the beta process. I think it is a safe bet that this feeling is shared by many users, considering the number of threads that have been opened for the purpose of complaining. (Cogumela made a nice compilation here).
If the Feedback channels were being used correctly, people would be getting some kind of response, and would feel reassured. But all we users can perceive is that nothing significant has changed, and we feel that we're getting stuck with something that is not sufficiently better than the old version to justify what is clearly worse.
As people have mentioned in the various related threads, one of the nice things about SD is the sense of community. Many of the users form friendships, and communicate outside the Forum. I can tell for this reason that a number of the veteran users, including alarmingly a number of administrators and correctors, are weighing their options seriously. And not so much because the site is unsightly and has serious usability problems, but because they feel disrespected and ignored.
In business, I never ignore my customers, and never fail to respond to them or make them feel I take their comments in consideration. If I did, I would have very few left indeed!
I encourage you, Developers and Managers of SpanishDict, to take the feedback seriously, and respond to your users. We are here every day, and we speak out of concern and love for this site. We also want this to succeed and grow, and receive even more satisfied users (which ought to translate into higher revenue!).
I am not here for the learning tools. My applied learning of English stopped a good few years ago. I am here because of the friends, and because I enjoy being able to help a little. But I don't need extra aggravation in my life. I have weathered a few SD crises already, and I have sadly seen some good people leave. If any more of the key people end up leaving because they feel disregarded, disrespected and unloved, I expect I won't see the point of sticking around either, this time around.
I don't want you to throw all this effort away. I am not asking you to go back to the old SD. I'm just asking you to do the right thing, and at least acknowledge your users, and understand that we all have SD's best interests in mind, when we offer feedback, suggestions and criticism.
I can offer to put you in touch with excellent web interface designers, whom you can hire to help you with the stickier user interface aspects. Heck, from the comments I have seen posted, I am sure you could hire from within a number of the members, and end up with a truly first-rate site!
Just please realize that you have made a number of bad mistakes, and that it won't hurt anything to listen to your users, admit where you went wrong, and work toward a truly improved design that will really satisfy your users' need.
Thank you.
27 Answers
28 mins ago, 132 views
This is what happens when there is a good post to read. 
I have always been impressed by your ability to communicate , we have not always agreed on some issues, but I on my part have always respected and appreciated your input. I have actually changed and amended some decisions after getting a mail from you.
If any more of the key people end up leaving because they feel disregarded, disrespected and unloved, I expect I won't see the point of sticking around either, this time around.
I can only say that this small forum, if the persons in charge allow this to happen, they simply don't understand the forum well.
Everybody is important here, but if those "key" people who answer questions, post learning threads, correct dozens of posts , moderate, keep the forum nice and healthy, (being mods or not) , and considering that there are only about five Spanish native speakers who are "active" here, you yourself, cogumela, Lazarus (who has only just returned thanks to the cogumela's good work) , some others who are not so frequently around any more, and even myself, leave, this forum could not exist, let alone be of any good for answers or questions or anything at all.
This forum has a good number of learning threads, good answers supplied by native speakers like you yourself, there are only few of us, but we are trying to cope with everything, great correctors , like cogumela. There are some more ...but they come and go, permanent members who are here every day, well, there are just a few natives who help. So what would be left if these natives were driven away?
This has been a serious learning place for many people of all ages, I don't know if the site has changed in this sense and the developers would like to direct it at younger users only.
I encourage you, Developers and Managers of SpanishDict, to take the feedback seriously, and respond to your users
This is an important point. I have opened several threads on things that still need to be fixed and have so far not heard from anybody in charge. So far it has been the users who are communicating the things that have been fixed, not the staff members.
And I am really discouraged to see that so many items which were important , like the language proficiency on the profiles, which we fought for during months, you were one of the best fightershave simply disappeared
So, I wish I could vote a hundred times for this fantastic and much wanted advance!
And Chris should probably brace himself for a big, noisy riot if he decides to take it off again!!! vampire
And that was what you said then
We are here every day, and we speak out of concern and love for this site.
Exactly, I think I am not exaggerating if I say I spent more time on the forum than anybody else, and my only aim has been to help to make this forum a serious learning place and prevent it from becoming a playground.
Gekko, I underscore all your main points.
The most important thing I would emphasize is that SD management ought to understand better the value of the talent (linguistic as well as technical) that they have on board among the forum members.
The sense of teamwork that would make this a stellar website for users and advertisers ought to be encouraged from both sides. In addition to recommending User-Interface specialists to review the project, a Public Relations specialist may be highly effective.
Thanks again for a thoughtful and educated appeal.
Thank you, Gekko.
I join you, you've put my thought into words.
I also expect a personal response from the staff.
When I asked some of the Administrators why they didn't issue a warning, I was even more shocked to learn that they had not been told either.
This is one of the greatest mistakes done by the staff, because admins could have helped a lot with this, as they are respected by most of the users here on the site, so just telling them about this should have been a must and not a choice, our admins on the site work for hours and hours just to help the staff members to keep their forum ''clean and safe'' from all the attempts of messing around or making troubles, if they had known about this, all the mess that happened that day wouldn't have appeared, when the staff members launched the new site not only tons of complaints were out (and most of them were sharing the same idea and changes), but some posts of irresponsible people came out like people posting their e-mails and using curse words on the forum although the rules clearly say that it's forbidden, not to mention that our mods are actually working for free, so this is like a favor they are doing and not a job that has to be done, and what they get? a simple example of ignoring people.
Most of the mods have been around the forum for more than a year now, so of course they know how things work, and they know what users enjoy the most, so asking them first about their suggestions before launching the new site would've improved the situation we are in right now, the staff had a lot of time to do improvements, and the old site was working perfectly, so why rush things and release a version that has a lot of mistakes without even asking for someone's opinion?
But after all, since we're already in it, and we cannot get back and do things all over again, l sincerely hope that the staff members not only listen to users suggestions, but mods suggestions as well, l know that all of the staff members are working hard on this and l can already see a lot stuff that has been improved and fixed, but listening to feedback and actually reading what it says is simple a must.
Jadey said:
. I could find a list of sites with resources with just as good articles and videos and flashcards as this. But not a forum. If the experienced, fluent speakers leave then the forum will die out and this site will just be like any of the others. Yes, this is a business but for a business to run, you must have customers willing to go along.
I do actually pay a fee for two other Spanish learning sites. My membership to a third recently expired. Although other sites offer similar learning resources and even some different ones, there is one aspect of this site that no other site has been able to come remotely close to. That one missing key ingredient is our forum!!! I have checked out numerous Spanish language forums. This forum receives a grade of A+ as far as I'm concerned. The rest of the forums out there wouldn't even receive a passing grade. They seem boring and robotic.
The SD forum is probably not what brings in the big money to this site, but it definitely is the heart and soul of it. It is the reason I come back again and again. Some may come here because it is free, and I must admit, what is offered here for free is amazing. However, although I am willing and admittedly do pay for the features other sites have to offer, the forum here is priceless to me. The magic of this site is not something tangible like software or interfaces (like I even know what that means). It is not videos, dictionaries or conjugation tools. The magic of this site lies in the forum and in the unbelievable generosity and sacrifice of time donated lovingly from our administrators and correctors. If we lost Heidi, this forum would be on life support very quickly. There have been quite a few kind hearted and generous people. Some were here in my earlier years in the forum and some are still here. Many people have come and gone, but hands down, I can't think of anyone who has consistently given of her time and expertise like Heidi. Every time I think I know all that she does here, I find out something else she has done, whether it is a learning thread or dealing with someone starting trouble.
The reason I say all of this is that I agree with what Gekko is saying. I do believe that some people here really have the best interest of the forum in mind. Heidi and Cogu come first to mind. I know not everyone's requests and demands can be catered to. However, there are certain people like these two natives, along with a few others, whose opinions and ideas should be seriously considered. There work and labor of love alone at least deserve a response. 
I appreciate this letter Gekko!!!!
Extremely well said, Gekko! I have read your entire post here and you have evidently tried very hard to put a well balanced argument : seeing both sides - and accepting the need to acknowledge the hard work that Chris and his technical team are doing yet at the same time recognising that there needs to be a 2 way or mutual respect between the site providers and the site users: ie the SpanishDict customers.
Most regrettably this 2-way respect has broken down and has, so far, been conspicuous by its very absence. The failure of the tech team to even notify the administration team, as reported by Gekko, of their intended plan to modernise the site has shown a scant regard for the staff and even less for the consumers ie the members on whose behalf they are apparently doing all this work.
If this was a PR (Public Relations) exercise it would have to be recorded as a shambles and a complete failure! It seemed as disorganised in communication as the recent terrible disaster with the cruise ship where the captain apparently abandoned his ship and left the customers to try to make sense of what was happening.Please do not attempt to draw any direct analogies to any details in the ship disaster. I am making a general point about failure to communicate. British Rail used to be famous for this before it was privatised I doubt it is much better now. The Eurostar disaster with the snow and the complaints from customers about not being informed shows that many companies need to improve their ability to keep their customers informed of recent developments. The fact that the site is free does not in any way remove their responsibility to inform people of what is happening. If voluntary organisations can do it so can web site providers.
I am not comparing it in terms of seriousness or trying to trivialise the disaster on board ship in any way, in which people lost their very lives but simply the lack of communication demonstrated by those who should have cared to let the members of SpanishDict know what was going to happen and keeping us informed of progress from time to time..as much as was practically possibly.
I don't really care about the change of user interface, smilies, lost html tags, colour schemes etc etc etc. Yes they are annoying but in the grand scheme of things I will get used to it.
I will tell you what really angers me though. On here we have some of the most caring, devoted and dedicated people who are passionate about helping others to learn the Spanish language. When I see all the mistakes in things like 'word of the day' and all the learning material, I honestly feel so angry for all the people here who provide their services (excellent services too) for FREE.
I think it is totally disrespectful to have people build up the site's user base (therefore opportunities to build increased advertising revenue etc) and treat them with total disdain.
Because of these folks, I am thankfully now at the stage where I don't need to read the learning material, official word of the day emails etc. But if I consider this site (minus the very few native speaking forum members) alongside other sites that offer similar services - I'll not name them, but there are many! Then, to be honest, this site is terrible. How mistakes can be sent out to thousands upon thousands of people is unbelievable in my book.
What makes this site unique and the best, is the forum. The forum is the support mechanism that underpins everything - the flashcards, learning exercises, videos etc. I was browsing the forum for a few months before I started to contribute. I wonder how many thousands of other people do that.
What makes the forum is the few Spanish native speakers we have. Lose them and you lose the rest of us. Then try to compete against your competitors with the tools you have left. I don't think I need to go on.......
Back in 2008 when I had decided to start learning Spanish, I began in search of a website that was both amazing and free. When the dust settled there was only one that met that challenge, Span¡shD!ct.
It was new, it had bugs... If you don't like the advertisements now, you should have seen them back then! Oh, and you actually had to wait for lessons to be filmed, edited and posted! Thats right, there was only Spanish 1 currently at the time. Despite its buggy-ness I kept coming back. But why? There wasn't a forum, no badges, no reputation or half of the features we have today.
Even back then there was a great community of people. There was something special. I was ready to help out in any way I could. I specifically remember talking to Paralee and Chris 1-on-1 many times giving suggestions, many of which I saw implemented. Who remembers Paralee when her avatar was of her at Machu Picchu?
Unfortunately life got very busy, I suppose being in the military does that. When life slowed down and I continued learning Spanish again there was one place that I immediately thought of. Span¡shDict! Thats right, I never forgot about it.
From my experience I am completely shocked at how this is being handled. The administrators should have consulted our lovely Admins. They are the backbone of this website alongside the native Spanish speakers. I seriously hope that none of them consider leaving because how they have been treated. It would be a shame to see this website fail because they left.
The biggest shock is, where is Paralee? Has anyone else wondered that? Did I miss something? If your still here, can you please explain what is going on and why?
My old profile here: click here If anyone is interested. I was locked out when the last major update was made.
An old post I'm in, (pre-forum) click here This used to be on Paralees "wall"
I know that mine is just a single tiny voice, but for me, the single most important feature of SpanishDict can be found in the people who regularly frequent its forum.
In my opinion, it is not any of the prepackaged learning tools such as translators (these are not only flawed but can easily be found on Google), dictionaries (there are better ones out there), conjugation tools (a standard feature of most dictionary sites) or flashcards (there are numerous programs freely available such as mnemosyne which offer superior flexibility as well as spaced-repetition capabilities). The material found in the lessons and reference articles can easily be found on-line or with a quick trip to the local library.
The one feature that makes this site standout, however, is its forum. More than just a forum, however, it is a community, a community where generous people freely give their time in the pursuit of helping others learn the intricacies of Spanish and English.
The people who frequent the forum come from all walks of life—every habitable continent is represented. We have scientists, researchers, teachers, IT professionals, nurses, waiters, plasterers, surgeons, scuba divers, students, retirees, grandparents, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Without these people, the forum is nothing, and I daresay that without the forum, SpanishDict is just your average run-of the mill site.
Of course, this is only one small opinion. Nevertheless, based on this opinion, I think that it would probably be unwise to continue to ostracize (whether intentionally or no) so many faithful and longstanding members of SpanishDict when a simple reply such as, "We are looking into it—please be patient with us as we continue to work towards bringing you the very best product that we can" would likely quell so much of the discontent that has been brewing over the last week or so amongst many of SDs valuable members.
Therefore, I would simply echo Gekko-san's most eloquent words in noting that simply acknowledging the suggestions put forth by its members would likely to wonders in terms of community relations. I would hate to see the friction reach a point where reconciliation became impossible or a point where we start witnessing the mass exodus of many of our valued members.
Again, I hope that you will consider some of the feedback and suggestions that have been given by our members in this thread and others and take any necessary steps to see that morale does not continue to slump. Thanks for taking the time to read this opinion and best wishes in all your endeavors to try to continue to improve the new SpanishDict.
Ira
Thank you Gekko and all who have contributed here, there is nothing that I could add
that would make it any clearer , except to say that I beg the owners to reconsider
their position and make those few changes that we are asking for . I have only about
40 years left to live and I dearly want to serve out my last remaining coherent
years here on SD , I may then achieve the status of a Spanish speaking Centenarian.
Hola Gekko
I hope you get a personal reply to this post.
I agree with nearly all you have written amigo.
Ian
Dear Gekkosan,
Well said! I totally agree with you, we can get used to the novelties, and to wearing sunglasses whilst writing..I don't understand about all the various technical malfunctions but it does look rather bad to have mistakes on the gflag-ship word of the day. Not confidence inspiring. As Gekkosan says, if I leave and find another learning site doesn't matter to the site owners. It doesn't matter if nearly all the 'regulars' leave, we are not the money makers. The money makers are problably the people who just want the odd bit of machine translations and accidentaly click on the adverts. However, I think the site-owners might do well to condsider that there are many machine translators. If I want a machine translation I just put the word in Google and see what comes up. If I want a person to give me attention, I go to Spanish Dicct because it has outstanding persons! I'm not asking for the old site back but I do think some of the problems can be dealt with quite easily and that it would be nice to see some attempt made to please the actual people...
Yours, Annierats
¡Sí, sí, sí! I agree. There are many good changes that have been done, but there are many more things that have not been fixed or have been changed to be make them worse! Just off the top of my head, I can think of a couple of things that have been consistently brought up every time and have never been changed.
I love SD. I love the people and the fact that no matter how stupid my question seems, people are willing to help me. I love the videos and flashcards that have helped me learn so much and helped a lot while I am taking my Spanish classes. I have seen at least one person say that they are very likely to leave and I'm sure more are thinking about it. I for one, even though I am annoyed at a few thing right now, do not want to leave because this is a wonderful site and I can get over some of the visibility things. But if other people leave, then I will eventually have to because the reason I stayed will no longer be here.
People have brought up that SD is a business and they need to do what makes money for them. I totally, completely agree with that statement. But one thing to remember is that if this site loses some of it's oldest and best members, this site will not keep the new members or attract new ones. I could find a list of sites with resources with just as good articles and videos and flashcards as this. But not a forum. If the experienced, fluent speakers leave then the forum will die out and this site will just be like any of the others. Yes, this is a business but for a business to run, you must have customers willing to go along.
I don't mean to imply that the site owners are heartless business owners.
There are very few sites on the web whose owners have as much heart as we have here.
What we have been witnessing is not a lack of heart
It is well known that when a business or organization grows, there are necessary growing pains. Guess what just happened?
What our caring owners have in heart, they lack in basic management skills. That is all we've been witnessing. 
OK. I think they've been chastised enough! Now lets offer some rays of light to guide our beloved flagship through the storm....
Izan said:
We have scientists, researchers, teachers, IT professionals, nurses, waiters, plasterers, surgeons, scuba divers, students, retirees, grandparents, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Without these people, the forum is nothing, and I daresay that without the forum, SpanishDict is just your average run-of the mill site.
Actually Ira, I think that this statement should be placed on the Homepage of the site. I can't think of anything more beautiful or appropriate to represent what the SD forum is all about. You have managed to captured what we have all been thinking all along.
